


A Crack in the Mirror

by theScrap_Witch



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Canon Typical Violence, Gen, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Palmore Ruins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 11:02:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27849866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theScrap_Witch/pseuds/theScrap_Witch
Summary: A blue glow settled across the sand, and for one hopeful second Wild thought it was Mipha, somehow stretching out her power beyond what was possible to save his brother.But it was the mirror.The runes absorbed Twilight’s blood. All of its strange markings were lit up, their light connecting to one another, turning the mirror’s surface bright and clear as glass. Wild stared up, but instead of seeing himself and Twilight in its reflection, another figure appeared.A woman.
Relationships: Twilight & Wild (Linked Universe)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 198





	A Crack in the Mirror

Wild and Twilight had spent the afternoon chasing a horde of infected monsters.It had been a while since just the two of them had gone hunting like this. Twilight in his wolf form, trying to sniff out the trail. Wild with his bow ready in his hands, eyes sharp for any creatures that could have been camouflaged in the surrounding sand dunes. For hours, they’d walked down the coastline in the south of Eastern Necluda, wandering further and further away from where the rest of the group had set up camp.

“Anything?” Wild asked. 

Twilight let out a low growl, shaking his head.

_Dammit. Where could they have gone?_ Wild sighed. “Guess we’ll have to tell Time we lost them.” _At least I don’t need to be worried about getting lost again_ , he thought. Between Twilight and his Sheikah Slate (this was his Hyrule they were in, after all), it would be easy to find a way back to the others. Something they’d have to do soon, seeing as the sun was starting to set.Everyone else back at camp was probably starving. “Mind if we make a quick stop? We’re really close to Lurelin Village and there’s some supplies I want to stock up on.”

Twilight didn't answer, and Wild assumed it was a yes. _I could grab some ironshell crabs. Or some armoured porgy._ Wild’s mind spun with dinner ideas as he walked. _Wind’s been feeling homesick. Fresh seafood might help cheer him up._ “Hey, Twi, do you think I should make seafood paella or crab stir-fry?”

Again, no answer.

“Twilight?”

Wild turned around. Twilight stood in the sand a few feet behind him, staring out at the sea.

“Do you sense something out there?” Wild walked closer, dinner pushed to the pack of his mind as he scanned the water for danger. No lizalfos hiding in the waves, no octoroks waiting to spring up and shoot rocks at them. “I don’t see - ” Wild glanced behind him, and realization cut off the rest of his words. “Oh.”

Palmore Ruins.

Wild had forgotten about it. The Kah Yah Shrine stood deeper into the beach, glowing blue against the golden sand, crumbling pillars clustered around it. In front of the shrine was the fragmented monument, a strange circle decorated in weird ruins. Once broken, it had taken Wild hours to find and put back together. Not that it did anything impressive after he had. The whole place was weird, different than the Sheikah technology or the Hylian remains Wild was used to finding on his adventure. 

One of the Lurelin villagers, Garini, had made a hobby out of studying the fragmented monument. “It has a reflective quality,” he’d said to Wild, shortly before the dark portal had appeared and Wild had been thrown into a new quest. “I think it used to have been some sort of mirror.” Then he sighed. "I wonder what its purpose had been? Whatever it was used for is lost to time now.”

But Twilight (or Wolfie, as Wild had called him back then, when he thought his companion was nothing more than a loyal wolf) must have known something more. Whenever they passed by the ruins, a strange melancholy would overtake him, a sadness Wild did not know how to help push back, and it would not leave until they had left the fragmented monument far behind them.

_I wish I knew what to say,_ thought Wild, hating how useless he felt. Twilight was always there for him, through nightmares and flashbacks and days when guilt threaten to drown Wild beneath its depths. _I wish I knew how to help._

He glanced down at the long, open stretch of sand that lead away from the ruins, and an idea popped into his mind. _I can’t get rid of his sorrow, but maybe I can distract him from it._

“Hey, Twi,” said Wild, summoning a shield from his Shiekah Slate and dropping it on the ground. “Think I can make it to Lurelin Village in under thirty seconds?”

That got Twilight’s attention. He growled, half warning, half plea, eyes sharp on Wild’s wide grin.

“It’ll be fine,” said Wild. He clicked the stasis rune on his slate, activating it down on the shield. “I just need to aim correctly.” He kicked the shield a few times, then jumped on right as the rune started to deactivate. “Race you!”

And he was off. Sailing, flying high into the air, shield cutting across the sky. Wild had his arms outstretched like wings as the wind whipped back his hair, his heart soaring. It was the best feeling in the world. It was absolute freedom. 

It was then, in mid-air, that Wild realized his mistake.

His aim was off. Way off. Instead of sailing down the beach and far away from the ruins like he’d wanted, he was heading straight into them. There wasn’t even time to curse before he smacked into a pillar. He must have blacked out for a minute because he never heard the crash.

Barking and a cold nose pressed against his forehead brought Wild back to reality.

“Ow…”

Well, that plan had failed. He’d fallen deep into the ruins, the opposite of where he’d wanted to be. The fragmented monument was close by, undamaged by his mistake. Despite his grief, Twilight had followed Wild, and was starring down at him. Worry shone bright in his eyes, and a low whine escaped his throat as he nudged Wild’s hair again and again with his nose.

“I’m okay,” said Wild, shaking some of the rumble off of his chest. “Don’t worry, Twi. I’m okay this time.”

Satisfied, Twilight growled and yanked on Wild’s sleeve.

“Come on, Twi! I’ve done way worse. So, I was off by a few hundred meters. At least I didn’t break any bones this time!” He grinned. “That’s an improvement!”

It was worth every bit of pain to see the spark of humour back in Twilight’s eyes. He gave Wild a wolf-grin: tongue out, teeth wide, tail wagging. If he had been human, he would have been laughing.

“Let me try that again.” Wild kicked away the bits of shattered shield that lay on his feet into a nearby sandpile.

_Wait._

_Did that pile of sand just…squeak?_

And why were there so many identical ones surrounding them all of a sudden?

_An ambush_ , thought Wild. So that's were all the infected monsters had gone. A part of his brain, the part always wary of shifting octorok grasses and lone strangers on the road, was ringing in alarm. _They’re waiting for us to turn our backs. The minute we turn to walk away from here, they’ll all strike._

Twilight sensed it too. He circled around wild, guarding his left side, fangs barred.

Wild stood up, acting like he hadn’t heard anything, testing his limbs for sprains or anything that would slow him down in a fight. _Nothing. Good._ He took out his Sheikah Slate, pretending to be distracted. _Bows won’t work here. Don't want to damage the ruins. What can I use instead? No, not that, no…yes!_ His fingers hovered above the image of an ancient short sword. It summoned into his hands, light-weight and sharp-edged. _Perfect._

He winked at Twilight. “Too bad we never found any monsters. I guess we should just walk back to the water. Nothing to see here. Nothing dangerous or anything, not at all, nope.”Together, they stepped away from the pillar.

As if on cue, a pack of lizalfos jumped out of the sand.

Wild grinned. _Nice try._

There was a flurry of sand as Wild spun, the weight of the ancient short sword adding to his momentum. He became a whirlwind, and all the lizalfos that had dared to become close to him were sliced to ribbons. Others were torn apart by Twilight, their scaly hides no defence against his fangs.

The ambush was over before any of the monsters could blink.

Black, infected blood stained Wild’s blade. “That must have been the horde we were hunting,” he said. Thinking the danger gone, he lowered his weapon. “Weird, I thought there had been more.”

Twilight snarled, teeth stained black and red, and lunged at Wild.

No. Not at him. In front of him.

Too late, Wild saw one of the lizalfos leap back up from where it had fallen. Too slow, he saw its spear pierce straight through Twilight’s stomach instead of his own.

Wild screamed.

He screamed and he stabbed the monster in its eye, piercing the blade all the way through to the back of its head as it tore its spear out of Twilight. The lizalfos dropped, dead, and tumbled away.Black bits of magic swarmed around the fallen wolf, his body shifting from beast to person. Twilight, Hylian again, collapsed in front of the fragmented monument. Blood was everywhere. Splattered on the sand, on both their clothes, dripping into the cracks of the ancient mirror. Twilight’s blood, pouring from the hole in his stomach like a river, staining everything it touched a vivid red.

Wild scrambled to Twilight’s side. He put his shaking hands on the wound, desperate to make it all stop. “Twilight? Twilight!” There weren’t any fairies in his slate. No potions. Mipha’s Grace couldn’t save anyone but himself.

_What do I do? Goddess, help me, what the hell do I do?_

Could he teleport them? He’d never used the Shiekah Slate with one of the others so injured before. Hell, he’d never even tried it for himself when he was close to death. Would that only make it worse? Goddess, he was running out of time and _why wouldn’t the blood just stop, stop leaving him, please don’t leave me -_

“C…ub…?” Twilight’s voice was barely a whisper, and blood dribbled out his mouth. His eyes struggled to stay open.

“Twilight! Don’t go to sleep,” begged Wild. Warmth fled Twilight's skin, turning it colder and colder, ash white. “Please, Twilight, please. Don’t close your eyes!”

_Don’t die!_

A blue glow settled across the sand, and for one hopeful second Wild thought it was Mipha, somehow stretching out her power beyond what was possible to save his brother.

But it was the mirror.

The runes absorbed Twilight’s blood. All of its strange markings were lit up, their light connecting to one another, turning the mirror’s surface bright and clear as glass. Wild stared up, but instead of seeing himself and Twilight in its reflection, another figure appeared.

A woman.

Eerily beautiful, with ruby eyes and skin as blue as dusk. Her hair was red, like the leaves in Akkala, like lava. Like a sunset. She stared back at Wild through the cracks in the mirror. Starred at Twilight as he bled out on the ground.

Twilight’s head tipped to the side, his eyes meeting hers. He tried to speak, but there was too much blood in his mouth, and he choked on the word.

She screamed.

She screamed, though Wild could not hear her, could only see her face twisted in anguish. She screamed and all the runes around the mirror glowed brighter and brighter with an unearthly power.

Twilight closed his eyes.

“No!” Wild cried. “Wake up, Twilight! Twilight! You can’t die, you hear me! Please, don’t you dare die!”

The woman bashed her fists against the mirror, screaming and crying and furiously fighting to break through.

The blare of a hunting horn filled the air. _More monsters,_ thought Wild, leaning over Twilight’s body, snarling as more lizalfos and bokoblins began to approach. He kept one hand still on the wound as though it would do anything, while his other hand gripped his ancient short sword. _I'll kill you. I'll kill all of you._ _I won’t let a single one of you hurt my brother._

_I won't let you take him from me!_

In the mirror, the woman’s eyes turned black and burned.

Shadows seeped out of the fragmented monument, slithering out of the cracks. Some coiled around Wild and Twilight, wrapped around them tight like a snake. Others lashed out at the monsters, tearing the creatures apart as though they had claws.

In that moment, the woman herself seemed to have broken into Wild’s world, a shadow creature with long, red hair and eyes that stared only at Twilight. Her hand brushed across the markings on Twilight’s forehead, as soft as a kiss. Time froze. Wild felt like he was trapped in a memory, watching something that could not be altered. He wasn’t there. This was not real.

The woman whispered something in Twilight’s ear.

Then Wild was falling.

He was spiralling down through darkness, thick and black like spilled ink. He was falling endlessly, unable to scream, hands flailing as he tried to find Twilight.

_No! Where is he? Don’t take him from me! Please, Hylia, don’t take anyone else from me!_

Light chased away the shadows and suddenly Wild was no longer falling. Instead, he was laying in a pool of shallow water, far away from danger. The sky looked closer, like the shadows had transported them to the top of a mountain.

_What the hell just happened?_

_Twilight!_

The other hero was there as well, his head laying on a pillow of soft grass while the rest of his body was blanketed with water. Dread burned in Wild’s heart as he crawled to his brother’s side. His eyes were still closed, his face still too pale, but tiny fairies had clustered around him, their magic knitting together his wound.

“Twi?” Wild said, almost too scared to hope.

“Ugh…Wild?” Twilight’s voice was weak, but his eyes fluttered open. “What happened?”

Tears blurred Wild’s vision. “Don’t worry about that right now. We’re safe. You’re okay.” His voice cracked on the last word. “You’re okay.”

“I thought I saw…” Pain filled Twilight’s eyes, a grief so deep it cut Wild’s own heart to pieces in sympathy. “Was someone else there?”

_Do I tell him?_ Wild thought of his brother’s sadness, the broken heart he tried to joke about, and the woman he’d seen in the mirror. There was a connection between them, a history that went beyond what he’d glimpsed. _She must be the one he's in love with. The one who left him._ But to tell Twilight what had happened on the beach…What good would that do? The two of them were still separated, after all. Knowing he was so close to her, only to lose her again would only further break Twilight’s heart.

_He does so much for me. I’ll hold onto this secret for him._

“It was nothing,” Wild lied, “Just a dream.”

Much later, when Twilight was safely back with the others and Wild was brave enough to face the memory of what had happened on the beach, he returned to the ruins. The shadow magic was gone, the woman vanished along with it.

The mirror was scattered on the sand, broken again.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, writing fluff was fun, but now its time to get back to my favourite past-time: writing ANGST. (Twilight's turn!)
> 
> I have a tumblr now, so if you wanna chat check me out at: https://thescrapwitch.tumblr.com
> 
> Have a good day/night, and stay safe, everyone!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!


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